Murdoch scum

[Tubby Isaacs]

Murdoch scum

Who's this "political capital out of the hacking of Milly Dowler" cunt?

[RobM]

Murdoch scum

'I'm enjoying this'

Given the question that's the crass-ometer off the scale.

[Bored Of Education]

Murdoch scum

It plateaued about an hour ago, atlanticjaxx. Questions and answers being repeated now ad nauseum, nothing new coming up*, parliament going on holiday, long enquiry kicked into long grass.

The only thing that can come up now is a further 9/11 style discovery

*Although he did actually apologise for employing Coulson just a minute ago and he didn't directly before. I wonder if that will make it to the news bulletins

[Tubby Isaacs]

Murdoch scum

We should be talking about the famine!

How many MPs wanted the Commons recalled to discuss that?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Murdoch scum

Trade union bosses now brought up.

[Bored Of Education]

Murdoch scum

I'm enjoying this'

Given the question that's the crass-ometer off the scale.

That's what I thought. Right at the end so no-one will pick it up in the media.

Margeret Buchanan was good at rebutting that "political capital" question though.

Bercow's rubbish, isn't he?

[Bored Of Education]

Murdoch scum

The unions question did, at least, have some relevance amongst its complete irrelevance.

Bloody hell, Cameron can lie well, can't he?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Murdoch scum

That MP made political capital by accusing the others of making political capital.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Murdoch scum

This debate looks better than the last one.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Murdoch scum

Cameron's much less pumped up. He might get caught out.

[Ginger Yellow]

Murdoch scum

Speaking of unions, did anyone ask the Murdochs about the whole 30 day consultation issue yesterday?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Murdoch scum

So... allegations about politicians and the police being too close.

Let's have elected police commissioners now.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Murdoch scum

Letter from Tom Watson that Cameron never answered:

Dear Mr Cameron,

NEWS OF THE WORLD PHONE HACKING SCANDAL

You will be aware of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee's Press Standards, Privacy and Libel report of February 2010 in which Mr Andy Coulson, your Communications Director, told MPs that he had no recollection of incidences where phone hacking took place whilst he was Editor of the News of the World.

New allegations made today to Channel 4's Dispatches programme, by a former senior executive of News International, however, claim that Mr Coulson did in fact know about hacking, and that he listened to tapes of intercepted voicemail messages. These allegations are new, far reaching and warrant investigation.

The report to be broadcast on the Dispatches programme casts doubt on the accuracy of the oral evidence provided to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee on 21 July 2009 by Mr Coulson in which he said: "I was, as you know, Editor of the News of the World for four years from January 2003 until January 2007. During that time I never condoned the use of 'phone hacking and nor do I have any recollection of incidences where 'phone hacking took place".

Accordingly, I think it is necessary for you to make a statement in Parliament on this matter next week. If a government minister were to be the subject of similar allegations, they would be forced to stand down immediately while an investigation is carried out. We are now at the point where I firmly believe you should consider a similar course of action with regards to Mr Coulson's conduct.

I am sure you would agree misleading a parliamentary committee of the House of Commons is a very serious matter, and therefore these allegations need to be investigated. Parliament and the public would expect nothing less from you.

I look forward to hearing from you, at the earliest opportunity, in response to the points that I have raised.

Yours sincerely

Tom Watson

Member of Parliament for West Bromwich East

[Tubby Isaacs]

Murdoch scum

Telegraph leading on Cameron's failure to answer that question.

Interesting. He's not safe.

[Ginger Yellow]

Murdoch scum

Even asssuming the very worst so far alleged about Coulson, Cameron and hacking, I just don't see how it ends in his resignation. Prime ministers have survived far, far worse. Maybe if the Lib Dems were to turn against him en masse, but they've shown no inclination to do so.

[sw2borshch]

Murdoch scum

I know you're all thinking it's about time I introduced a tenuous local link to this tory.

Former Boro scout quizzes Murdoch at hearing

And that should have read "story", but it was cute, so I left it.

[Bored Of Education]

Murdoch scum

Miliband's doing well here.

It isn't the Liberals, Ginger, it's the 1922 committee but I can't see that they will be too disappointed in what's happened this afternoon. Depends how far the Telegraph go, I suppose

[Come along, Min]

Murdoch scum

@BoE

9/11 evidence would be big indeed, they're keeping a damper on it so far though. Can you imagine how more explosive the story would be if evidence was discovered years after the recent allegations were made?.

Tubby Isaacs wrote:

Telegraph leading on Cameron's failure to answer that question.

Interesting. He's not safe.

Not too sure on his safeness, but he certainly doesn't carry his party in the manner of (for example) -Blair.

Even before the last fortnight it would be fair to say the olde fashioned Tories are suspicious and paranoid (with good reason) that Cameron, at first chance, will institute a clear out the old/bring in the new regime. I think that this particularly is what drives the suspicion of him within the Westminster ranks, and the party as a whole.

After the last two weeks when the PM started to look genuinely tainted, and when the big guns failed to show unequivocal support, we have seen revealed some of the constant quiet talk that passes for polite conversation in Tory circles come to the fore. That talk being of other potential leaders (David Davies/Theresa May etc). This talk has been implemented by people who (to their credit, I suppose) would rather see the Conservative Party stick to the old principles that they stand for rather than turn the party into a do anything-to-get-elected New Conservative party.

We've also had this talk about the Cameron's successor for months now, the thought being that Osborne & Johnson are fighting secret and not so secret PR and inner-party battles against each other for the chance to be leader after Cameron. Interesting that both of them have been implicated loosely relating to the hacking scandal, like someone (Cameron & his PR/media buddies?) are trying to keep them in their box, remind them that DC aint going without a fight.

..

I think a month ago Cameron might have still been able to dream about having his a mini 1997 moment, a little whitewash, perhaps a 100 new MP's in his own image, a mediocre Labour party fairly beaten, if not destroyed.

At present it feels more likely to be a repeat of the last election, with perhaps a deflated Lib Dem party still holding a balance of power, giving it the eyes to the Labour bench. It's certainly in the Lib Dem interest for the Tories to remain at their current levels of support in the country.

Of course an election is still just under 4 years away, but they're all obsessed with it.

[ursus arctos]

Murdoch scum

It is extraordinarily unlikely that there is any 9/11 evidence. The trial balloon launched last week fared worse than the Hindenburg, and after four or five days of silence, the "US nexus" has become the possibility that Jude Law's UK mobile may have been hacked while he was on US soil.

Sorry, but that isn't going to get us into the streets with torches and pitchforks.

Seems that we've now moved into "rogue editor" mode. One wonders how long that will last.

One also wonders how the Murdochs' testimony yesterday will be squared with the published accounts of Senior being in constant contact with Kelvin MacKenzie during his tenure at the Sun and the boy taking no fewer than seven calls from Brooks during a 2 hour interview with Michael Wolff.

[Bored Of Education]

Murdoch scum

I am not sure that the contact with individual editors wasn't a complete time-wasting red herring in the end. It was obviously a complete lie, everyone knows but it means nothing really and won't be disproven.

They have to find a paper trail connecting the Murdochs with ordering the phone-hacking or, at the very least, ordering those payments to make anything stick and the paper (e-mail?) trail proving that has, I am sure, gone

[ursus arctos]

Murdoch scum

I'm quite confident that such a trail never existed.

There seems to be a general belief in the UK that CEOs micro-manage, which is almost never the case. It's the same kind of nonsense that holds that Fred Goodwin made all the bad loans (though he did make some disasterous buys).

Given Cameron's evasion on the issue, either Coulson wasn't vetted, or the firm that vetted him had significant connections with NI and/or the Met.

[sw2borshch]

Murdoch scum

I’d agree, there won’t be a paper trail. But from what I’ve read, and has been alluded to above, Murdoch was hands on enough at the UK papers in earlier years, if not the last few, that he would have asked questions as to the provenance of stories. Partly out of, well, professional interest. But I’m sure all the staff lied to his face constantly anyway.

[ursus arctos]

Murdoch scum

Though that was pre-Fox, pre-Wall Street Journal, and pre-new media.

Rupert's defense will be grounded in his advancing age, resultant retreat from day to day to management and complete fixation on the US and other new markets. As I've been saying for weeks, he just doesn't think about the UK much anymore.

James' defense is grounded in him being a typical third-generation destroyer of shareholder value.

[sw2borshch]

Murdoch scum

He doesn't think about the UK?!?!?! Some bloke on Newsnight last night pointed that he kept referring to "we" & "us" having a free society etc....

We're still a world power and that's the end of it.

[Ginger Yellow]

Murdoch scum

It isn't the Liberals, Ginger, it's the 1922 committee but I can't see that they will be too disappointed in what's happened this afternoon.

The 1922 Committee may not be huge fans of Cameron, but they're not going to hand Milliband and Labour such a massive victory over something as minor (in the grand scheme of government corruption) as this.

I also agree with UA that it's very, very unlikely RM had any hand in authorising the hacking. The cover-up is another matter, but even there I would be surprised if went further than JM and other News International executives.